I'm Crazy, but I've got Good Luck
by Bassist117
Summary: Project freelancer was a dangerous operation, and the mortality rate left the freelancers as cold individuals. Can they find a way to form meaningful relationships despite them probably dying tomorrow? This story will just be a place for me to write my own narrative of what happened during PFL
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone, just a quick thing before we get started. This is my first fic in a very long time and really I just wanna get better at writing before I take on any works of my own. This is set in 2560 and I will be taking liberties with the RvB universe and mixing it in with the Halo universe, ignoring Halo 5. Reviews are always welcome and if you'd like to help me by being a beta reader I'd really appreciate it. Anyways, onto the story.

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James Youngster sat at the second story bar in the famed Club Errera on Luyten, sister to the club on Reach. It had been seven years since the great war ended, but that didn't mean shit when it came to how the galaxy behaved. There were plenty of covenant splinter factions and insurrection movements, the latter of which was James's current objective. He was currently working for ONI section one, on an undercover op to observe and then eliminate a suspected insurrectionist leader. All he had to do now was wait for the ONI mole working as an arms dealer to meet with the leader before he and his team, who were spaced throughout the club were to take him down.

At 27, James was one of the youngest non-spartans working as a team leader in ONI section one. He had been offered a place in the Spartan IV program, but his higher ups at ONI decided he was too good at undercover work to be transformed into a freakishly large and muscular super-soldier, so here he was, with only the basic augmentations. Ceramic bone inserts, reflex boosters, and the like, but nothing that made him indestructible like a spartan. He had grown up on one of the rougher worlds and had been conscripted into a gang as a lockpick. He was good and it meant he got wealthy, but eventually he was caught and it was off to military school with him.

So here he was, feeling the bass in the club resonate throughout his chest to the point where he thought his heart might explode, messing around with a lighter. _Still got a half-hour before the deal is supposed to go down_. He thought as he checked his watch. It was a beautiful thing, in a time where anaolg machines were rare he had somehow managed to acquire such an astounding thing without blowing his entire paycheck. Not that he could really blow it on one thing, he was a secret agent after all and that meant he got paid a lot more than he did during his stint in the UNSC Marines.

"Would you quit doing that?" James turned his head and saw the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on. She had eyes green as grass and hair that reminded him of the blood oranges they used to eat on his home planet of Minister. James would've thought it dyed if not for the minimal makeup on her face, he realized she was just naturally breathtaking. His eyes drank in her perfectly sculpted body for a moment, noting the blue strapless top, white skirt, and knee high brown boots that went halfway up her perfect legs He normally had a very quick tongue and a quicker mind, but she left him dumbstruck for half a second. Seeing his hesitation, she got up from the other end of the bar and strode toward him, an easy, confident stride the said; 'don't fuck with me', a swagger that would've scared off lesser men. He had only a bit of time to realize that he would most likely be unable to crack that cold exterior before she reached out faster than a puma and attempted to snatch the lighter from his hands.

Growing up poor and bored, James had developed an affinity for sleight of hand tricks, and his time in the marines had turned him into a straight up con-man. Not because he enjoyed taking money from his squad mates, he just liked messing with them. So when the mystery girl had gone for the lighter that he had swiped from the bouncer earlier that night, he threw it down and caught it on the pristine black leather of his shoe. This trick was either going to impress her or fail miserably and embarrass him.

"Impressive." She said with a smirk. "Not many people are quicker than me."

"What can I say, I'm an expert with my fingers." James replied, employing The Voice. The Voice, a smooth and sultry tone, was his best friend when it came to seducing women. It was sort of a necessity when you were a badass secret agent. To her credit, she only paused for a microsecond, and her cheeks only showed a slight tint of crimson where most women would already be swooning over the devilishly handsome agent.

"So how'd you do that?" More playful than annoyed. She noted his rolled up sleeves and empty palms with a flirtatious curiosity that James did not ignore.

"What kind of magician would I be if I spilled my secrets?" James said through an easy smile. "I can make it up to you by buying you a drink though." Making it look like he was flirting was a great cover in general when trying to avoid being noticed, but James was completely awestruck by this beautiful vixen and decided he would actually try his luck with this one. She thought about it for a moment before nodding. James flagged down the bartender and asked her name.

"Carolina."

"Nice to meet you Carolina, I'm James." He said as he stuck out his hand. Why he hadn't told her his current alias, he didn't know. There was just something about this girl that captivated him.

Just then, he spotted the insurrectionist and his posse out of the corner of his eye. He now only had to wait for the handoff of the stolen dumb AI for a cache of high powered weapons, and then with the tracker placed on the leader, James and his team were to follow and then kill him. James's hand instinctively went to the silver pistol concealed under his shirt, one of the first plasma weapons made by Misriah Armory.

"So what's a pretty girl like you doing in a dump like this?" James asked, making light of the fact that this was one of the fanciest places on the planet.

"I'm on shore leave for a bit."

"Oh really? What ship are you stationed on?" James asked, surprised that such an attractive person would be in the military and not modeling for some upscale clothing company.

"That's classified." She said it with a smile, but the look in her eyes told him he shouldn't push the issue. " What about you?"

"I'm a wandering rouge, traversing the galaxy looking for adventure." James replied. The head tilt she gave him indicated that she wasn't fooled. "Ok I'm really just a local locksmith and occasional street magician. I do work on this place so I get let in despite my low class occupation."

They talked for a bit, passing the time until the mole gave them the signal. Eventually, his foot tired from the awkward position it was in holding the lighter, he decided he would end the trick. James flipped his shoe up, landing the lighter on her shoulder where she jumped a bit at the sudden cold contact of metal on her bare skin.

"Impressive." She said, putting the lighter into her small handbag. Before he could protest and call her a thief, three gunshots rang through the club. York looked over to see the innies standing over the mole with their guns out. Before James could yell at his team to hold their fire and that they would get him when there wasn't the risk of civilian casualties, one of his men opened fire and grazed one of the seven insurrectionists on the shoulders leading to them shooting randomly. James knew his four man team would have trouble taking them down in this setting. He swore and grabbed Carolina under the arms and took her over the bar with him as bullets came from below them.

She landed on top of him and before he could even open his mouth to make a flirtatious remark she was off of him and had an M6S in her hand, presumably that she had pulled from her handbag. James reached through the buttons on his white dress shirt, thankful that he had already rolled his sleeves up and unhooked the smaller revolver style pistol from his holster. They both popped up above the bar and took aim at the fleeing innies and fired, Carolina downing two of the remaining innie bodyguards, dropping their number to four while James aimed at and shot the fleeing leader in the back of the calf, the shoulder, and the small of the back before he even hit the ground.

After dropping back behind the bar, James threw up a hand to his ear and yelled for a report, and it wasn't good news. Josh was down while Edward and Harry was pinned by three innies who had split off from the main group when they entered. James knew that asking Carolina for help was breaking several rules but he was out of options. He looked at her and said; "So I'm not really a locksmith. Wanna help me put some innies in the ground?" She answered only with a nod and a predatory smile that sent chills down his spine.

"On my mark we jump the bar, I'll head down the stairs and you cover me from up here." She yelled over the sound of smg fire. "Sync?"

"Sync."

"Three, two, one, mark!" And with that they jumped the bar and rushed the innies, firing as they approached. They took down another before James flipped a table while Carolina dove down the staircase, landing in a roll that brought her to her feet and right in front of an smg barrel pointed at her forehead.

Before the other man had time to pull the trigger, she let her momentum carry her forward, landing on the ground as the bullets sailed over her. She stuck her pistol into the air and fired off a couple of rounds into the man's stomach and chest, rolling sideways behind a booth before his body landed where she would've been.

James had momentarily stopped firing, mouth agape at the performance that had lasted for all of two seconds. It was in that moment that, James knew she was something incredible. She was beautiful, funny, and smart, yet extremely deadly. She then looked back up at him with an annoyed glare, clearly unhappy with her lack of covering fire. James popped up and took down another of the bodyguards before vaulting the railing and gunning down the final bodyguard on his way down.

"That was impressive." He said to Carolina, offering a hand since she was still on the floor. As she got up, he winced at the sudden realization that a shard of glass had embedded itself into his shoulder. Before he had time to do anything about it, a short man with a crew cut and dark skin jogged up to him, his green tie loose and stained with blood.

"Who's this?" Asked Harry, apparently having dealt with his situation.

"Someone that you will leave out of the report." James said with a stone cold expression, giving no room for debate. "Where are the other two?"

"Ed is dealing with Josh. Asshole had to go and get himself shot in the thigh."

"Alright. Radio command and tell them section two will have to get a cover story going. I also wanna know which one of you dickheads shot first." James said. Harry nodded and left, so James turned back to the mystery female at his side.

"So what are you?" He asked, mystified at where she learned to shoot like that.

"Agent Carolina, member of project freelancer, ONI section three." James had heard of freelancer, an upstart rival to the spartan program that focused more on pairing men with machines instead of pumping them full of chemicals and shit. Right now the only thing they really did was recovery ops, retrieving UNSC equipment that couldn't fall into enemy hands.

"I'd like for you to be one of us. Right now, we've only got a couple other agents. We'll be in touch." With that, she turned and started walking out.

"Wait!" James called out. "What's your real name then?"

She turned around, and with a grin said; "My name is actually Carolina."

"Ok well if I do join will I see you again?" James asked, hoping his voice wouldn't betray the worry he felt at not seeing her ever again. He was drawn to this woman in an inexplicable sort of way that he could only hope was mutual.

Her grin turned into a genuine smile that actually reached her eyes. "I hope so."


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone. A short chapter here really just to establish the director's relationships with the Counselor and Carolina as well as give some backstory to some of the agents. I decided I'm gonna write this story in limited third person and jump between characters, but its main characters will be York, Carolina, and later Wash when I introduce him.

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Leonard Church had acquired too many damn titles. Professor, father, doctor, husband, captain of the UNSC _Mother of Invention_, and head of ONI section three Special Project Freelancer to name a few. It was so much easier just to have everyone call him Director. It would have to wait though, because he had eight new agents in addition to the ten he already had, and an aid coming in.

It would be a day of reunions for Church. Aiden Price, his new "counselor", had been in interrogation training with him during his rise through ONI. They had formed somewhat of a bond when going going through the hell that was ONI interrogation training, becoming the closest thing he had to a friend. They had even kept up after he had gone into section two, no doubt because of his skill with manipulating and understanding people. Freelancer had previously been just the Recovery program, but now, thanks to his new partnership with Malcolm Hargrove, the project would be something else and he needed someone to help run the damn thing

Leonard Church had envisioned something much larger than the UNSC's black ops cleanup crew. Freelancer was to be a scientific study just as much as a military operation. His goal was to test out experimental new augmentations and abilities before their use in the field. There was also an underlying psychological experiment however, and that was the use of competitiveness as a way to increase a soldier's performance. That's why he needed a people person like Aiden.

His other reunion would be with his daughter Carolina. They had grown apart after her mother died when she was just a child. He had seen her twice since she joined the military five years ago. The first time was during a military ceremony three years ago, while the second was only a video call he had made a month ago to tell her she would finally be joining the project and telling her to keep an eye out for anyone who might be useful. He had kept tabs on her throughout her rise, pulling a couple strings and throwing his name around to make sure she got noticed, but he was no longer one for affection. He wasn't even sure if he could love anymore, not since Allison died.

The Director shook thoughts of his late wife and looked down at his tablet, rereading the scant profiles of the newest batch of agents.

_Agent Carolina_

_Age:23_

_Name: Carolina Church_

_Sex: F_

_Planet of Origin: Earth_

_Hair Color: Red_

_Eye Color: Green_

_Specialization: CQC_

_Branch: Army_

_Rank: Major_

He knew what the notes would say, he had doctored them himself. He turned his attention to the man she had recommended for recruitment.

_Agent New York_

_Name: James Youngster _

_Age: 27_

_Sex: M_

_Planet of Origin: Minister_

_Hair Color: Brown_

_Eye Color: Hazel_

_Specialization: Infiltration_

_Branch: ONI, Marines_

_Rank: Captain_

_Additional Notes: James Youngster has proven himself invaluable during undercover missions. He is quite proficient at both close-quarters and ranged combat. He also has been trained in stealth, lock picking, interrogation, and intelligence gathering._

Church looked over his records and was quite impressed with what he saw. Countless operations against both insurrectionists and Covenant remnants alike. He had also received good words from both his superiors in ONI section one and his former COs in the Marines, though both had warned him about his tendency to violate the less important rules. Both also remarked that his disobedient tendencies had stemmed from his seeming ability to acquire alcohol no matter where he was stationed.

He had been wary about the potential agent at first, but after talking to a couple people and learning more, and his daughter's insistence, he decided to allow him in. After all, he was breaking more than a couple rule himself and had been reminded of Allison's stories of pranking her sargent. Again pushing those thoughts to the back of his head, he turned back to his datapad.

_Agent Connecticut_

_Name: Mary Hargrove_

_Sex: F_

_Planet of Origin: Nephis_

_Age: 24_

_Hair Color: Brown_

_Eye Color: Brown _

_Specialization: Intelligence_

_Branch: Army_

_Rank: Warrant Officer_

Church didn't need to read the footnotes because Malcolm told him all about his daughter. He had only very slightly veiled that his daughter should be included in the program should he wish to acquire the funding he wanted to enlarge his project, and so Leonard had obliged. Worst that would happen is she gets killed and once he had the funds to get his project off the ground he would be able to secure funding from ONI. He moved on

_Agent Wyoming_

_Name: Reginald Hardings_

_Age: 35_

_Sex: M_

_Planet of Origin: Groombridge-1830_

_Hair Color: Black_

_Eye Color: Blue_

_Specialization: Ranged Combat_

_Branch: ONI Contractor_

_Rank: N/A_

_Additional Notes: Hardings has proved quite useful to ONI section one as a hitman and spy. Let it be noted that he was offered these jobs as a pardon for his parts in the corporate shadow wars when vying for control over Concord's Point. He has since proven himself invaluable._

A contract killer was exactly what he needed. The Recovery operation had need of hard and unethical men since they often happened upon grizzly sights or had to do certain unethical things in order to retrieve equipment. Reginald would fit into the project quite well.

Before he could finished looking at the other four agents, Illinois, Maryland, and the Dakota twins, the door opened and in strode a black man of average height and build.

"Counselor Price." Church stood and shook the man's hand.

"Director." He replied in a voice like poisoned honey. "It is good to see you again, Leonard."

That was odd. They had hardly ever called each other by their first names, let alone bothered with pleasantries and greetings. "Spare me your false repartee, Counselor. I trust you read the files?"

"Captain Church, the new agents have arrived and are in the training room."

"Thank you F.I.L.S.S. Introduce yourself and show them to the training room." Turning back to Price, he continued. "I trust you've met the shipboard A.I?"

"Yes. I have also already been acquainted with Agents Maine, Georgia, Alabama, New Jersey, Michigan, and Florida. F.I.L.S.S. has also already shown me around the ship."

"Good. Let's go meet these new agents."

"Yes, Director."


End file.
